


Of a Dead Race

by aaphant



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Sonic is a good friend, and how restaurants work in the sonic universe, can be interpreted as sonuckles if so desired, he literally doesnt even matter hes just someone to write from the perspective of, headcanons on whats under those ever-present gloves, i do not know how tags work please help, oc is some rando that i got a friend to name lol, writer that doesnt understand how emotions work tries to write anger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28108392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aaphant/pseuds/aaphant
Summary: Someone is curious about Sonic's red-furred friend.
Relationships: Knuckles the Echidna & Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Of a Dead Race

**Author's Note:**

> UH  
> idk what im doing  
> i wrote this months ago and was too shy to post it even though i made this account for the specific purpose of uploading my recent works
> 
> i think i made sonic a little out of character  
> hopefully its not too terrible haa..

George couldn’t help but join everyone else in staring. Sonic, _the_ Sonic the Hedgehog, was right there in front of him, casually ordering from the restaurant with two friends at his side. He was sure everyone else’s eyes were glued to the famous hero, but this cat’s eyes were instead drawn to one of his companions. As the blue hedgehog spoke to the lady behind the counter, his fox companion, Tails, if he recalled correctly, was right next to him pointing out what he wanted from the menu above. Hovering beside them, looking like they weren’t sure what to do with themselves, stood a silent, awkward unknown. They were clearly part of the group, as they had entered with the other two, mid-conversation before falling silent upon walking through the door.

He squinted at this red Mobian, trying to decipher what species they were exactly. They were more than likely a male, judging from the lack of clothing revealing a flat, albeit toned, chest. There wasn’t a feather nor scale in sight, so unless their species laid eggs like the one-of-a-kind platypus, this had to be a male. Probably. George silently hoped everyone was still too distracted by Sonic to notice his eyes trailing up and down the red furred figure. They could _almost_ be mistaken for a hedgehog. They had spines; a defining feature mainly seen in hedgehogs, but they fell straight down instead of being swept back. He had seen hedgehogs with their spines held down by headbands before, but as another close look confirmed, these spines were not styled like that: they grew naturally.

Other differences he noted were the snout and tail, both being far longer than any hedgehog he had ever seen. The tail appeared shorter due to its zig-zag shape, likely an injury of some sort, but straightened it was easily the length of a leg. Their nose was a different shape entirely, and they lacked spines down their back, like a female hedgehog. Wait a second, they also didn’t have ears! How had he not caught that? Indeed, above those spines that reminded him of dreadlocks some humans would have, there was a smooth forehead void of those triangular hedgehog ears. But they could clearly hear; they were just having a conversation! Non-visible ears?

Just _what_ was this anomaly of a Mobian?

And what was with those silly spikes on their gloves? The gloves mostly resembled boxing gloves, but he didn’t think those spikes would be all that helpful in combat. If anything, wouldn’t they be less effective than punching normally? He’d think the one throwing the punch would experience more pain from all the force concentrated into those small spots on the hand.

As if having heard his questioning of the strange design choice, the unknown creature in question suddenly began peeling off a glove to reveal the hand underneath. The cat once again hoped no one was looking his way as he leaned forward, pushing up his glasses to get a closer look at the fascinating reveal. Once the hand was exposed to the air, he was again thrown for a loop. They were _claws._ That in itself had been staggering, but on top of the five sharp digits acting as fingers, two short spikes protruded from the knuckles, just like he had seen on the gloves.

All thoughts that maybe, just maybe, this person was a hedgehog with some very specific mutations or deformations were thrown out the window. Mutations could perhaps explain some of the other things, but nothing would give a hedgehog claws like those.

The subject of George’s utter bafflement idly examined their claws, flexing the hand a few times before shaking it out. They repeated this with their other hand, replacing both gloves by the end. They looked up to see three pairs of eyes on them, secretly four including the cat spying from across the room. Sonic opened his mouth to speak, and the spectator leaned even further forward, straining his hearing to catch as much as he could.

“-Wanna have?” Came the second half of Sonic’s question.

“Uh,” The red one began in a distinctly male voice, purple eyes (yet another oddity, _purple eyes_ , what the _hell?)_ flicking from Sonic to Tails to the cashier, “D’you have… fruit?” The now-confirmed male’s shoulders shrugged, unsure.

“Yes, we have a fruit salad. Would you like any insects with it? We have ants, or termites, or-“

The dog behind the counter was cut off by an excited exclamation of “Termites, please!”

She simply smiled, putting in the order as the group of three went to take seats.

The one spying on their red companion quickly averted his eyes as they took their seats, being almost instantly swarmed with fans eagerly clambering for Sonic’s attention. The cat watched from the corner of his eye as the hero seemed to initially welcome it, reveling in it, giving rapid answers to a mountain of questions, before his eyes caught sight of his newer, lesser-known friend. Just barely, George could see the look of extreme discomfort on that red furred face. His arms were tense, hands planted firmly on his knees as he stared off to the side. Tails, meanwhile, appeared to have experienced this often and just looked overwhelmingly bored.

Sonic saw how uncomfortable the attention had made his friend, and his smirk quickly dropped. Thinking fast, his smile returned as he quietly, yet firmly, said, “Hey, I know you guys can’t get enough of me, which is perfectly understandable, but maybe this could wait for some other time? My pal Knux here doesn’t tend to like crowds, he needs space, y’know? He’s shy like that.”

The newly named “Knux” snapped to attention, giving Sonic a look of indignation. His response was the flash of a toothy grin as the hedgehog continued, “Y’see? Totally shy.” He turned back to the attentive crowd, “Love you guys, really, but some other time, yeah? ‘K, thanks.”

There were many groans of disappointment, but the gathering obediently dispersed. Sonic’s eyes briefly lingered on the departing crowd before looking back to his friend, whose tense posture had eased up slightly. His otherworldly amethyst eyes were solidly staring off to the side again. Sonic’s eyes softened in concern.

“You good? Sorry, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that you might not like being swarmed like that.”

There was a slight pause before he got an answer. Eyes tore themselves from the floor and looked back at Sonic, “It’s fine. Thank you.”

The three of them started up casual conversation after a while, by then George had tuned them out and returned to his meal. His rate of consumption slowed to a crawl, though, as he decided he would try and work up the courage to ask just what species this “Knux” was. He considered himself highly knowledgeable when it came to all kinds of Mobian species; it was something he took pride in, being able to surprise new people by instantly naming their exact species. Having something entirely unknown to him was a new experience. He just had to know.

He tuned back into the trio when their meals arrived, deciding that watching this mystery man as he ate might give some clues. Out came his fruit salad in a simple bowl along with a container crawling with the requested termites. The cat shuddered at the sight, not envying those with insectivore diets in the slightest. The subject of his interest put aside the container, seemingly deciding to enjoy them after the fruits. He completely ignored the provided fork and instead took off his gloves again, plucking from the bowl with his bare claws.

When he opened his mouth for the first slice of banana, George caught the glint of wickedly sharp teeth. He found himself stunned once more at the sight of them. They were wildly unlike the small fangs of his own kind - they were like a damn _shark’s_. They looked specifically designed to tear things to shreds, yet there he sat eating simple fruits.

The other two at the table watched, amused, as he thoroughly examined everything before he popped it in his mouth. He looked at the pieces of food like they were entirely foreign, which the cat thought was exceedingly strange considering he had _asked_ for fruit. He’d frequently pause and ask Tails what the name of the fruit he held was called, asking if it was possible to get seeds for some he deemed likeable.

This continued, until he came across a grape. The moment he bit down on it, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, and soon all of the grapes in the bowl were picked out and gone. His face was an image of pure bliss through every chew. He insisted, then, to his two companions that he absolutely _needed_ to have grapes on his island. The cat hummed, so he lives on an island? Interesting.

Once the bowl had been cleaned out, he eyed the termite container in mild confusion. He picked it up, turning it over in his hands, watching the captured inhabitants writhe. George gagged. Tails saw the clear confusion in those unnaturally coloured eyes, helping to explain that there were openings around the container that were made for different mouth sizes, and told him use the opening that would work for him. Now that he understood, he used a claw to… pick the smallest opening? The cat’s face scrunched up in confusion behind his glasses. Why would he pick the tiny opening clearly designed for those with long, thin tongues - anteaters, pangolins, aardvarks and the like?

His mouth dropped open and his eye ridges drew together even further at what he saw next. Out between dangerously sharp teeth darted a long, thin, slimy tongue. Just like… an anteater’s.

His face stayed frozen as he watched the unbelievably bizarre creature lap up the termites with the casualty of one eating their natural prey, which very likely was the case considering such a specific kind of tongue could only really be for one purpose.

“What are you!?”

He hadn’t meant for that to come out, but now that he was standing and he had everyone’s attention he couldn’t stop himself.

“You look like a deformed hedgehog with no ears, claws like a mole, and the tongue of an anteater! Are you some lab experiment!?”

That wasn’t fair and he knew it; if the platypus, an egg laying, venomous, semi-aquatic, duck billed, beaver tailed, electroreception using mammal could exist then nothing said a hedgehog-like animal with features of a mole and anteater couldn’t also exist. But Chaos damn it, if such a unique Mobian species was out there this whole time how had he not heard of it!?

His abrupt questions caused a ripple of mumbling to pass through the tables, at first he feared he’d face harsh criticism for being so rude, but then he heard people echoing his thoughts and relief flooded him. He wasn’t alone in this confusion.

The Mobian everyone was suddenly looking at quietly retracted his tongue. His eyes darted across the room, ending down at his lap as his head fell down, spines hiding his rapidly reddening face as his shoulders hunched. His hands were hastily withdrawn into his lap as he went stiff as a board.

Suddenly, having thrown his chair in haste to get up, Sonic was in George’s face. “The hell is wrong with you!?” he yelled, face showing a previously unseen level of hostility, even towards that doctor.

The cat’s hands rose in defence as he backed away, “I was just- “

“He was minding his own business, what gives you the right to yell at him like that?!”

Sonic continued to walk towards the cat as he kept backing up, hands still out in a failed placating gesture. “I’m sorry, it just slipped- “

“I don’t care if it ‘just slipped out’.” George’s ears flattened, fear spiking at the forced calm in the hedgehog’s voice. “You will go apologise. Now.”

He gulped at the blazing emeralds boring into his soul, silently tilting his head to look back at the one his outburst had been directed at. His face was still obscured by his spines, Tails right next to him speaking something inaudible. The cat looked back to Sonic, nodding mutely as a shaking hand readjusted his glasses.

The entire restaurant had gone dead silent as he made slow steps towards the table. Tails gave him a glare equally as harsh as Sonic’s was as he approached, but refrained from saying anything. As he stood before the still hunched up and _still_ unknown creature, he was painfully aware that all of the attention was now on him. He took in a shaky breath.

“Um…” He paused, swallowing. “I’m sorry- “

“Echidna.”

The cat blinked at the lone word that had left the red one’s mouth. “Uh, wha-?”

He stopped dead as the head finally rose from its spot, eyes positively bleeding malice, staring right at him.

“I’m an echidna.” He spat.

George tried to bite his tongue, he truly did, but he was clearly incapable of that skill so instead out came, “Aren’t those extinct?”

A rough jerk on the shoulder turned him around to face Sonic. “What. Are you. Doing.” He bit out through gritted teeth. “Are you _trying_ to piss us off?”

“Let go of him.” The apparent echidna said, and the cat turned back to see him standing.

Sonic did as told, if a little rougher than strictly necessary. The red figure exhaled harshly through his nose, eyes closed. “You aren’t wrong.” He ground out. Eyes opened again, significantly calmer than seconds prior, though his arms still shook with what was likely rage. “Echidnas are effectively extinct. I’m the only one left.”

George’s mouth parted as he digested this information. It made sense. He hadn’t ever bothered learning about the features of extinct species, because, well, they were _extinct_. No wonder the one before him had been such an anomaly. A wave of guilt crashed down on him as the words sunk in. This poor soul had just revealed the most personal, crushing information - out in _public_ \- because he had forced him to. And, Chaos damn him, a question still lingered that he just _needed_ to know. Echidnas had gone extinct, what, four thousand years ago? He grit his teeth, trying with all his might to just squash down his curiosity, but for a third time his mouth ran without his willing to.

“But how- “

Murder returned to those purple eyes as clawed hands suddenly gripped at the cat’s shoulders. “No more questions.” he hissed, teeth bared in warning.

The cat nodded meekly, eyes wide with terror. “ _Sorry_ ,” he squeaked.

The restaurant remained utterly silent as George stiffly shuffled his way back to his table, painfully aware of the numerous sets of eyes glued to him. The trio, having already been nearly done with their meals, decided they’d had their fill, quickly paid and left. With no plans, they just walked aimlessly; anything to leave the restaurant behind.

It was after a full minute of walking in silence that Sonic spoke up. “Hey,” He turned to Knuckles with a smile, getting his attention.

Knuckles blinked at him. The hedgehog continued, “How about we get those plants you wanted?”

The echidna smiled.

“I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> ending is a little abrupt bc idk how to end things properly AHH  
> EDIT: BTW as this is written from the perspective of some asshole, it contains stuff that i do not agree with !! i personally know a trans woman and therefore understand that masculine voice does not equal man. but this is mainly written from the perspective of some asshat that thinks he knows everything. i probably should have added this initially but it didnt cross my mind, sorry if it may have caused offence !!


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